[AT] spring tooth harrows

[Greg Hass]

I spent hundreds of hours pulling one of those. Unfortunately, for years 
we had Case harrows, probably the worst harrow ever made. If it saw a 
corn stalk or piece of sod 100 feet ahead it would start plugging then. 
The last few years (until 20 years ago) we ran a IH harrow and then a 
John Deere; each of them was worth 10 Case harrows. The reason everyone 
in our area used spring tooth harrows was that a lot of sugar beets and 
edible beans are raised here and they require a fine and level seedbed. 
Also, a lot of corn in our area is harvested as silage so there was not 
the stalks to contend with. Twenty years ago we had a pastor in our 
church and he had never seen a spring tooth harrow until I showed him 
one. He grew up in Minnesota and all they used was a disk harrow as most 
all of their ground was corn stalks. The last 20 or 30 years field 
cultivators have taken over now that they have 5 bar levelers and 
rolling baskets to level the ground. You may not have seen it, but 
several months ago I had a post on what machines had largely disappeared 
from use and why people were glad they did and invited replies. My reply 
was the spring tooth harrow;  not because it didn't do a good job but 
because in a 20 acre field you would have to stop on all 4 corners and 
get off and unplug it. With a field cultivator it will almost never 
plug. I bought a "new" used one last year and to date have not plugged it.
           Greg Hass